Other Studios: M: Marvel Productions, Ltd.: Features: Transformers: The Movie

Transformers: The Movie Production Information

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Production Notes:

"Transformers: The Movie" marked Orson Welles' last screen work. It was released after the filmmaking legend's death in October 1985. Although the live-action "Someone to Love" (1987) was his last released film, it was shot before Welles lent his voice to "Transformers: The Movie."

Welles voiced Unicron, an evil shape-shifting planet moon. At the time, he was 70 years old and in poor health. His voice was so weak in the film that it was changed with synthesizers until it hardly sounded like him.

Barbara Leaming, author of "Orson Welles: A Biography," recalled Welles telling her shortly before he died that he had spent the day "playing a toy." Said Leeming: "That was for him a way of earning a living and a way of trying to finance the films that he wanted to make." She added: "Obviously in those years, there's a tremendous sadness except that the thing he used to always say to me was, 'The one thing that's helped me to survive is that I'm not bitter.'"

Story consultant Flint Dille, story consultant on the film, remembered that Welles had a warm, generous personality. "He came in... and said, 'I'm playing an entire planet!'" Dille recalled.

In a move several years ahead of its time for animated feature films (but which later became commonplace), many famous actors had voice roles. Besides Welles, well-known performers included Eric Idle ("Monty Python's Flying Circus"), Leonard Nimoy ("Star Trek"), Judd Nelson ("The Breakfast Club") and Robert Stack ("Unsolved Mysteries"). "It was groundbreaking to introduce these famous actors in an animated feature," producer Joe Bacal recalled.

The movie made less than $6 million at the box office.